A leading scholar of China's modern political development examines the changing relationship between the Chinese people and the state. Correcting the conventional view of China as having instituted extraordinary economic changes but having experienced few political reforms in the post-Mao period, Merle Goldman details efforts by individuals and groups to assert their political rights. China's move to the market and opening to the outside world have loosened party controls over everyday life and led to the emergence of ideological diversity. Starting in the 1980s, multi-candidate elections for local officials were held, and term limits were introduced for communist party leaders. Establishment intellectuals who have broken away from party patronage have openly criticized government policies. Those intellectuals outside the party structures, because of their participation in the Cultural Revolution or the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, have organized petitions, published independent critiques, formed independent groups, and even called for a new political system. Despite the party's repeated attempts to suppress these efforts, awareness about political rights has been spreading among the general population. Goldman emphasizes that these changes do not guarantee movement toward democracy, but she sees them as significant and genuine advances in the assertion of political rights in China.
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From Comrade to Citizen Examines the changing relationship between the Chinese people and the state. Correcting the conventional view of China as having instituted extraordinary economic changes but having experienced few political reforms in the post-Mao period, the author details efforts by individuals and groups to assert their political rights. Full description
This thoughtful and important book tells us much about the changing shape of the intellectual community in China, the concerns and political strategies of intellectuals, and their relationship with both the political center and the people. As one would expect with a veteran observer of Chinese affairs, Merle Goldman tells the story with a sharp eye and compelling writing.--Joseph Fewsmith, author of China since Tiananmen
A well-written and balanced portrayal of dissent and opposition in contemporary China, From Comrade to Citizen adds to the strong body of work that Goldman has produced throughout her career.--Bruce J. Dickson, author of Red Capitalists in China
Goldman's new book offers invaluable analysis of Chinese history during the last two decades. She shows how the increasingly organized struggle for democracy and rights under Chinese and international law has broadened out from the dissident urban intellectuals--who are still a tiny, constantly persecuted group--and has come to include mass demonstrations of peasants and workers.-- (05/11/2006)
Professor Goldman has performed an invaluable service by weaving together all the different strands of Chinese society--peasants, workers, intellectuals, political activists and internet bloggers and writers--who have challenged the political stasis.-- (12/01/2006)
As Ms. Goldman sees it, many Chinese intellectuals and a growing number of ordinary people are casting off their role of 'comrades' and beginning to view themselves as citizens, with rights to be defended and asserted. In quick but sure sketches, Ms. Goldman describes the results of this growing consciousness. Some events are better known, such as the Democracy Wall movement in 1978-79, when writers posted critiques on a wall in downtown Beijing, or the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations. But the events of the past decade have not been given a historian's treatment, and this is the most valuable part of Ms. Goldman's book.-- (01/11/2006)
Merle Goldman...has been the best in her field for decades, and most people who have followed in her footsteps have a deep respect for her work, which she started when it was far from fashionable. Her new book is a very stimulating presentation of the pro-democracy movement--which she prefers to characterize as the march towards citizenship--since Mao's death. It is well documented, and every important instance of dissent, every influential petition demanding a reform of the political system is reviewed, which makes her work particularly useful for specialists who have not followed the events which official history tends to neglect, and for the students who want to understand the political dynamics of the reform period...This book is the best that has been published in English on the subject to this day, and whoever wants to understand Chinese politics during the reform era must read it.-- (03/01/2006)
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